When Robert Fisk was writing against the Syrian regime, all supporters of the Syrian opposition were singing his praises. But when he recently wrote about crimes by armed opposition groups, he became an anathema to the same people. Of course, Fisk is unreliable, no matter what he writes. He is the Geraldo Rivera of the foreign press.

"Art galleries have been firebombed and ransacked, film directors have been
threatened, and a prominent Nahda member was assaulted by an extremist at a
recent conference titled "Tolerance in Islam." The fervor echoes the passion of
Salafis emerging in Egypt and other nations. But it appears more volatile in
Tunisia, even though the population of ultraconservatives is significantly
smaller."

"A few months after the “Sayed Anwar” stories, the front page of The Washington Times screamed: “Hezbollah calls for global attacks; Wants to export suicide bombings.” This was a new Paul Martin story, written under his own byline. But it turned out to contain at least one fabricated quotation attributed to Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah: “I encourage Palestinians to take suicide bombings worldwide. Don’t be shy about it” (4 December 2002).

“I watched the videos. I watched the speeches,” Macdonald told The Toronto Star at the time. “I have done more research than maybe the Canadian government has done, certainly more than Paul Martin has done … He came up with three quotes, one of which, to be charitable, was a gross mistranslation, and the other two were never even uttered” (“Curious silence greets discredited Hezbollah tale,” 13 December 2002).

A Lexis-Nexis database search for the “don’t be shy” quotation found it was first used by Stewart Ain in the 29 November edition of The Jewish Week (“Israel’s Might Examined After Attacks In Kenya …”). The quotation was unsourced." (thanks Asa)

"Moreover, Obama responded to Israel’s obduracy by offering it F-35
fighter jets and other goodies. The U.S. president has since coddled
Israel, extending additional military assistance and vetoing U.N.
resolutions criticizing settlement activity. He also opposed the
Palestinian initiative for statehood last September, delivering the most
pro-Israel American speech ever at the U.N. And though it seems of no
importance in Washington, the Palestinians are as far from freedom from
Israeli subjugation as ever. Meanwhile, Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney, who held a big-money
fund-raiser in Jerusalem last month, said last December that when it
comes to Palestinian-Israeli policy, “I’d get on the phone to my friend
Bibi Netanyahu and say: ‘Would it help if I said this? What would you
like me to do?’ ”" (thanks Lina)

Thursday, August 30, 2012

"Jaramana is
boiling. This is the least that can be said about a town that, by its calm and
hospitality of its people, offered a safe haven to thousands of people that the
brutal combats in their villages surrounding this town turned them into
refugees.

Two days
after a car bomb exploded, during the funeral of two men killed the day before
by bombs implanted in their cars, that killed 27 and dozens more injured,
another small explosive targeted a car yesterday evening in "The President
Square", one of the busiest places in the town. Luckily, no one was killed,
though the car driver and his daughter were moderately wounded and transported
to a nearby hospital. Few hours later, a clash broke out between a "popular
committees" (armed civilians who work under the auspice of the Syrian
authorities) checkpoint and gunmen, reports said they were positioning in Beit
Sahem, a nearby village the people of which are Sunnis. No one was hurt by
this clash.

Jaramana is living a crucial moment. Not only are the
rebels responsible in dragging this town, with all what it represents of
peaceful coexistence with its majoritarian surrounding, to the fight. Giving up
its main responsibility, of protecting the town, to ill-trained civilians who,
and this is the most important, belong to minorities (that so far haven't
participate in this dirty war), the Syrian regime seems working, deliberately,
to compel them to take their part in the fighting, not only in Jaramana, but
also in other parts of Syria where they live.

Dangerous game… very dangerous. Nevertheless, the two
parties are determined to play to the end..."

According to this source, more than 8000 Syrian regime soldiers and security forces members were killed in Syria. So the figure of the total death toll that is circulating in Western media excludes those? And according to the same sources, Syrian regime have killed all the victims in Syria. Does that mean the regime also killed its own members, just as it has detonated car bombs against its own targets?

A reader in Paris sent me this: "You seem to be upset by "Trotskyists" who depict the FSA as progressive. I
think that the worst of those "leftist" types are in Paris and actually come
from the so-called "Democratic left" (a pro March 14 party) and maybe the SDPP.
They are often invited on France24 (nobody watchs it) in its Arabic, French and
English version. When you hear them, you ask yourself : do they think that they
can fool us so easily ? I mean, they shamelessly assert that all sectarianism in
Syria comes from the regime and that there are very few islamists in the armed
opposition and that all those islamists were introduced in the opposition by...
the regime. Ziad Majed is a good example. This guy is from the "Democratic
left". In this debate, (in french)
when asked about jihadis, he answers "Il y a des jihadistes, peut-être, je sais
pas". Oh, you don't know ? Are you so dumb ? It was in last April. Then another
"leftist" opponent goes on saying that the regime sent jihadis in Iraq during
the last years... and that it uses these same jihadis now, against itself. Kid
you not. It is in the segment from 9:30 to 14:50."

Buush from Kenya sent me this: "Asad if u read that story, Muslims leaders say that there is American hand in
the execution of suspected Muslim activists aka terrorist, Sheikh Aboud Rogo was
killed broad day light under a hail of bullets, what followed the killings was
mayhem in Mombasa, just Google the news on the Sheikhs name and see!"

""THE Israel lobby, Qantas and mining companies are leading the charge in
lavishing federal politicians with all-expenses paid junkets and other gifts, a
Herald investigation has found.
Billionaires including Gina Rinehart, big drug companies, controversial
Chinese technology company Huawei and multinational defence contractors are
behind many of the "free" flights and high-level entertainment handed to
politicians. Politicians are being serially wooed by foreign interests, with Israel and
Israeli lobby groups giving politicians 44 fully or partly funded trips to
Israel and other destinations disclosed in the past two years"" (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

"Lebanese-Canadian gay rights advocates in Ottawa and Montreal have
succeeded in preventing a visiting Lebanese singer from performing songs they
consider homophobic and misogynistic. The singer, Mohamed Eskandar, is scheduled to perform in Ottawa on Sunday
at the El Mazaj Restaurant, a 270-seat venue on Canotek Road. He will also
perform in Montreal the night before. When the flyer for the Ottawa show was noticed by an Ottawa member of
HELEM, a Lebanese-Canadian LGBTQ advocacy group, he immediately informed the
group's headquarters in Montreal. Eskandar's lyrics and videos are familiar to the group. One of the artist's songs, Dod el Enef, is translated from the Arabic as
Against Violence. HELEM says the song's title is intended ironically as a way to
mock the slogan used by LGBTQ advocates in Lebanon. An
English translation of the lyrics, provided by HELEM, but independently
confirmed by the Citizen, includes:

"Without jealousy and real masculinity, women are in trouble. Ever since
the military service stopped, half of men became plagued by the disease of
femininity.

"If my dad and yours weren't straight, we would not have existed and
humans would have become extinct.

"Don't be tender with your boy and don't treat him like a flower. When he
makes a mistake, violence is a must. Let him become strong, violent and macho,
otherwise he will only be a 50-per-cent man."

The group was also outraged by another Eskandar song and video that
depict the evils that allegedly come from having women in the
workforce." (thanks Shawn)

"As more areas in Syria slip from control of the Syrian military, the United States is training local opposition members how to run a local government free from the grip of the Assad regime.
The State Department says it is running "training programs" for the members of opposition local coordinating councils in "liberated" areas who are beginning to re-establish civilian authority. The programs help them on issues of civil administration, human-rights training and other services." (thanks Dirar)

"“I have never been involved in a revolution before,” another board member, Dr. Naser Danan". And you are not involved in a revolution now. A real revolution does not get led by a "former" officer from NATO and it does not received the blessings of Zionists in Washington, DC.

"The group became more organized last spring when it formally
incorporated, started its Web site and, in May, hired a former NATO
political officer, Brian Sayers, as its director of government relations
in Washington after finding him through an online employment agency."

"“It’s not for us to determine what the donations are used for,” said one official". You liar. You have put people in jail here in the US for sending money to Palestinian hospitals. You now maintain that it is not for you to determine?

It is now the norm, not the exception. All Western (liberals and conservatives) commentators and academics join in on the discussion of arms for the Syrian armed rebels. There are American citizens who are now fighting with the Free Syrian Army and the US government has allowed the creation of a lobbying arm for the Free Syrian Army in Washington, DC led by a former NATO official. You now can fundraise for the FSA here in the US. It is the season conditioned by Zionists in the capital. But when Edward Said threw a stone across the border from Palestine in South Lebanon years ago, he was universally attacked. There were calls for his trial and punishment, even within Columbia University. People who would never dare throw a stone on Israel, or who would never dare call for throwing stones on Israeli occupation soldiers, now want arms for the gangs of the Free Syrian Army. Let me be clear: I always believed that armed struggle is not only a method of resistance against Israeli occupation and aggression, but that it is the chief method of resistance against the violent Israeli occupation.

Judith Butler is a critic of the state of Israel. In the American context, she is a courageous critic of Israel. I participated many years ago in a summer seminar on Antigone that she so ably ran. She has been vilified by critics unfairly: and mostly by people who have a hard time with her philosphical reference points. I just read her response to the Jerusalem Post: I am rather disappointed. 1) The Israeli critics have made her most defensive. Every sentence drips with defensiveness. 2) She has to remind her readers how much she is the product of Judaism and Jewish culture. I mean, we are all products of our upbringing and the milieus in which we are raised by why do we have to bring it and underline it when attacked by sectarian critics. I can't imagine myself responding to Muslim critics by reminding them about my Muslim family and about childhood experiences in Ramadan. Why does that matter except to allow the enemies to score a polemical point. 3) she said: "In my view, there are strong Jewish traditions, even early Zionist
traditions, that value co-habitation and that offer ways to oppose
violence of all kinds, including state violence." This sentence is historically false. There are NO--NONE--early Zionist traditions that "value cohabitation and that offer ways to oppose violence of all kinds, including state violence". There are none. When people--usually left Zionists--write words like that they usually are referring to the writings of either Ahad Ha'am or Martin Buber. But neither of them, nor together, represented "a Zionist tradition". They were lone personalities and their entire body of writing don't amount to what Butler is describing here. Again, way too defensive. 4) She tells us here that she is only partly supportive of BDS. OK. Sorry for the misunderstanding as we thought that you were supportive of BDS. I will make sure to remember that. Imagine that someone said about boycott of apartheid South Africa: that I am only partly supportive of boycott. But does that mean that you are only partly opposed to Israeli injustices? 5) She then writes this: "I do not endorse practices of violent resistance and neither do I endorse state violence, cannot, and never have." (her emphasis). In this sentence she clearly and unequivocally equates the violence of occupation with the violence of resistance. 6) Lastly, I want to say that whenever our enemies put us on the defensive they win.

The demeanor of Bashshar Al-Asad in Syrian media is widely different from his demeanor with Western media. With Western media, he makes an effort to charm (as uncharming as he is) and to appear likable. In Syrian media, he does not care at all. Compare his interview with Barbara Walters with the interview on Dunya TV.

I will say a few words about this piece in the New York Times but I will refer to the writer as "they" because in fairness to her, the propagandists in the Saudi and Hariri media don't really have independent minds and they surrender their personalities and individualities as a condition of employment. They are mere tools in a larger apparatus of the Hariri press office, which answers to the Saudi intelligence service. So I will be referring to "them", in reference to the Saudi masters. But notice that in the context of the Lebanese conflict, the New York Times does not find it necessary to inform readers that Now Lebanon is a Hariri-Saudi website that toes the Saudi political line. I mean, if the website is loyal to Hizbullah, don't you think that they would tell readers about that? Now let us begin: So they talk about the clashes of Tripoli as the work of the Syrian regime. But how is that? The clashes according to all accounts were instigated time and time again by the pro-Saudi Salafis in Bab At-Tibbanah in the city: are they implying that those pro-Saudi Salafis are agents of Hizbullah? And let us say they are, how do the clashes serve the Syrian regimes when they only mobilize against the regime and even sectarianly against `Alawites? And what about those burning of `Alawite business and stores in Tripoli? Did the Syrian regime instigate that to? Furthermore, are they implying that the 5% of the city who are `Alawites decide by orders of the Syrian regime to start a fight with the 95% of the city? How insane is that? I also notice that they refer to Hizbullah as a "beast". Very precise language in the Times. Do you think that the Times would permit anyone to refer to Israeli terrorist forces as "beast"? But there is some comic relief in the article: "It seems that the Lebanese Army has finally received political cover, mainly from President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, to confront Hezbollah". Wait. Wait. So even though the March 14 coalition in Lebanon, which has a real popular base in Lebanon (half of the Lebanese population support that coalition), failed in confronting Hizbullah, but now the two men with NO REAL POPULAR base have decided to confront Hizbullah? How funny is that? The supporters of Michel Sulayman in Lebanon can all fit in one falafil hut. Wait: but the writers have evidence and a solid example: "On Sunday, 18 armed men from a family with links to Hezbollah were arrested by the Lebanese Army. Two trucks and a warehouse full of weaponry were confiscated. This arrest is politically significant." Let me update the story: all the armed men have been released. Kid you not. Now that is funny. So their only real evidence did not materialize either. But there is another funny part: the article began by saying that Hizbullah is instigating instability in Lebanon on behalf of Syria, but concludes with the claim that Hizbullah is avoiding an explosion in Lebanon on behalf of Iran. You would require those Hariri propagandists to take a course in basic course of logic for their own good. But they can't help it. Orders of Saudi Arabia are orders that can't be refused. And those token Shi`ites in the Saudi-Hariri media apparatus are required to show extra zeal to justify their employment. (thanks Sultan)

PS One more thing: how come "their" English is much better than their English when they write on Now Hariri?

"We recognize the historic nature of the events of the past two years –
the Arab Spring – that have unleashed democratic movements leading to
the overthrow of dictators who have been menaces to global security for
decades." Is that why those deposed dictators (Mubarak, Bin Ali, and Saleh) all received generous US military and financial assistance during the decades? Because they were menaces to global security? (thanks Amer)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

"After several days
of fierce confrontations between the Syrian army and the rebels in Damascus'
southern suburbs, the fighting has moved to the northern and eastern parts of
the city. The latest clashes in Damascus started at 1:30 on Sunday morning, when
7 to 8 mortar shells hit the vicinity of Abassyieen Stadium, which hosts an air
force intelligence branch and some army soldiers, in an operation adopted by a
group called Ansar Al-Islam (Islam Supporters) who said the offense was
retaliation to Darayia martyrs. This shelling, that caused the killing of 3
civilians who were present in Abassyieen Square, was followed by violent clashes
in the area that lasted for more than one hour.

The day went
relatively calm with some sporadic far bombardment explosions. But that was,
suddenly, ended, at 7:30 on Monday morning, when the rebels launched what seemed
to be a coordinated attack against the security check points deployed in
Abassyieen and Jobar using automatic weapons and mortar shells that some of them
hit the nearby Bab Touma, Zablatany and Kassa'a quarters without causing
civilian casualties. The Syrian army responded by violent shelling of Jobar,
Kaboun, Zamalka and Harasta and large clouds of dark smoke be seen over the
areas hit by the shelling. A helicopter gunship was hovering at an unusual low
altitude and targeting heavily these quarters with its machinegun before being
downed over Kaboun at about 11 AM. The heavy shelling lasted until the evening.
And for the first time since the Syrian uprising erupted, Damascus witnessed a
fighter jet flying for half an hour over the city and its outskirts.

The movement in
Abassyieen quarter was almost not-existent. Many residents preferred to stay at
home and follow the developments through TV, by phone or from the balconies. The
bakery of the quarter overcrowded and ambulances were rushing to transport the
wounded to the nearby Abassyieen Medical Complex. Meanwhile, the traffic in the
surrounding areas down to Bab Touma, Bab Sharqi has been much less than what
should to be in a normal working day.

The sole official
and pro-regime media coverage of this long day was one sentence of 8 words: A
helicopter has fallen near Al-Ghufran Mosque in Al-Qaboun area in Damascus.
For the time being, the state-run news agency Sana was busy in covering the
activities of the Syrian PM and the statements of his National Reconciliation
clown during his visit to Teheran, while Addounia TV, devoted half an hour of
its air time to refute the rumors about the defection of the Syrian
vice-president Farouk Al-Shara'a, while the recent Damascus confrontations
haven't appear in its news bulletins.

Jaramana, a Damascus
suburb with a majority of Druze and Christians, is witnessing a grave
escalation. On Monday night, two men were assassinated with explosives implanted
in their cars. During their funeral on Tuesday afternoon, a car bomb exploded
killing 12 people and injured 48 others (today, the number of victims rose to
27). This terrorist attack is latest of less deadly incidents that hit the town
in the past two months. Its seriousness doesn't stem from the elevated number of
victims, but also from the fact that Jaramana represents a religious variety and
that its Druze community hasn't took part in the struggle (please read my
previous posts about Jaramana). Today the situation looks very tense, while the
elders and civil bodies (Arabic) are working
hard to calm the feelings of the residents and prevent a possible outbreak of
sectarian strife."

If there is a store with this name in any Arab or Muslim countries, the story and images would be in all US front pages, and American Zionists would be calling for the bombing of the store, and UNSC would have authorized the use of force against the store. Imagine. (thanks Sabrina)

What Michel Samahah--the pro-Syrian politician in Lebanese police custody--said in the leaked recording (published in Al-Jumhuriyyah yesterday) is grotesque and repugnant. It gives you an idea of the quality of pro-Syrian (or pro-Saudi for that matter) politicians in Lebanon.

""Pierre Gemayel, a sportsman, went to the Berlin Olympics in 1936; he was
taken aback by the Nazi "discipline" in Germany. Fascism, whether Italian or
Spanish astonished him. Pierre went back to Lebanon where he founded the
Phalanges Party (the name was obviously taken from General Franco's Spain). The
Christian Phalange party has to this day kept its Fascist ideals as seen in its
latest conference below where the Nazi salute remains
in place.""

"Ibn Rushd" sent me this: "I have big news for you : your students are much smarter than you think.

An astonishingly brilliant Moroccan expert argued recently in Russia Today
that the US controls the world through sex and through Kim Kardashian :

"CM: Sex is a big success tool in regards to America's success so far in
terms of dominating the world. For the last five decades, the American
government has successfully created a world where sex is in control of virtually
everything you can talk about. Using the media, they have successfully
developed, grown and forced the act of sex worship in virtually every country
across the world.

By creating sex symbols, who are
sponsored and obedient to the American government, the world population has been
controlled for decades and is still been controlled. Kim Khadashian is an
example of a sex symbol, she became a big success so-called star after her sex
tape was supposedly leaked to the world. It was all pre-planned, there were no
leaks. She was been moulded into a sex symbol to serve the imperialistic aims
of the US. I use the term 'so-called' because I never knew about her
until a couple months back."

"" The
Emir told me: 'If you agree to this initiative, I will change the attitude of Al
Jazeera and I will tell [Sheikh] Qaradawi [a popular prelate with a regular slot
on the television chain] to support Syria and reconciliation, and I have put
down some billions of dollars to rebuild Syria…' .""

You know it is not about Syria when Fouad Ajami feign sympathy for the Syrian people. So basically Ajami--unlike his reputation--can still show sympathy for some Arab people when he receives orders from his Zionist masters. It is cute how he misses the compassion of George W. Bush. (thanks Sultan)

"Civil
rights groups say Palestinians and their supporters often face legal hurdles in
cases brought against Israeli soldiers. According to a report last year by the
Israeli civil-rights group Yesh Din, only 3.5% of complaints alleging crimes
committed against Palestinians by Israeli security forces end with an
indictment."

Why do "fighters" of Hizbullah and "members" of Iranian Revolutionary Guards only confide in the most anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli Western journalists? What is the reason, really? Look at this: "Iran is sending commanders from its elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and
hundreds of foot soldiers to Syria, according to current and former members of
the corps." And notice that former and current members came to this guy and told him over drinks that yes they are sending fighters. (thanks Dina)

"" The
men and women to whom we could talk, two of whom had lost loved ones on Daraya's
day of infamy four days ago, told a story different from the version that has
been repeated around the world:..."" (thanks Nu`man)

"It was produced as a custom order by one of the world’s wealthiest photography-enthusiasts, Qatari prince Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani, who paid a whopping $2,064,500 for the hefty piece of glass." (thanks Laleh)

Comrade Joseph writes: "Hence, unlike the rest of the Arab world where the US and its West European allies quickly moved from sponsoring the dictators to sponsoring the counter-revolutions to restore them or a similar regime in their stead (Yemen) and then later moved to establish a new alliance with the victorious Islamists (in Egypt and Tunisia), they opted to support the uprisings in Libya and Syria and take them over rapidly to ensure an outcome that serves their interests (France, Italy and the United Kingdom secure the oil while the US hopes to move its AFRICOM military command headquarters from Stuttgart to Libya once the dust settles).
While in Libya, the takeover was quick and successfully executed, in Syria, it ran into trouble on account of the differing nature of the regime and the opposition and the class coalitions that support them.
What the US and the new regimes in Tunisia and Egypt are debating at the moment is how much representativity and accountability the new system should have and whether granting certain measures of representativity and accountability could lead to future unpredictable demands for economic rights by the majority of the people in both countries, which could further threaten the interests of the US and its local regime and class allies.
The recent visit by the head of the International Monetary Fund to Cairo to discuss Egypt's request for $4.8bn could result, as in the South African precedent, in introducing further contractual and legal bans on improving the lives of the poor in the country. The next few months will clarify the final arrangement of governance in both countries, especially in light of the increasing and mobilised popular opposition to any anti-democratic measures in both of them.
The uprisings have raised great economic expectations on the part of the majority of Tunisians and Egyptians (not to mention other Arabs across the region) who languish in utter poverty thanks to neoliberal economics, and who are no longer shy in pressing their economic agenda to centrestage.The battle of the seasons is on; while the Americans are pressing on for an American Spring in the Arab world that will only be experienced as another American-sponsored Summer drought for the majority of the people of the region, the Arab peoples are working to transform the recent uprisings into nothing short of a cold American Winter."

"“If you do anything for yourself, you feel guilty. . . . You
have so many more things to do,” said Nakhla, 29, a political asylee who is
working as a program specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Until last year, he had been a
political science student living in an Alawite section of Damascus.
For many asylees who come to the United States, their political engagement
dries up as they lose their connections with home and struggle to earn a living.
But Washington, with its think tanks and politically engaged expat communities,
offers more opportunities for involvement for people like Nakhla, who is still
deeply entrenched in the war in Syria." (thanks Electronic Ali)

""Abigail
Disney – filmmaker, philanthropist and great-niece of the legendary animator
Walt Disney – has publicly renounced her share of the family profits from an
Israeli firm she claims is exploiting "occupied natural resources.
[....] A
statement issued by Ms Disney says this is in "direct contravention" of both the
1907 Hague Convention and the Geneva Convention by exploiting natural resources
in occupied territory. Settlements are also considered illegal under
international law by most of the international community, including
Britain. "" (thanks Redouane)

"A California resolution against anti-Semitism on
colleges and universities also encourages educators to crack down on demonstrations against Israel, angering advocates for Muslim students." Look at the last part: as if only "advocates for Muslim students" object to a resolution that stifles freedom of speech on college campuses. Now, I happen to be "an educator" at a US university in California. Imagine if I am asked to "crack down" on demonstrations against Israel. Just imagine.

"Mustafa’s handiwork, which also includes the manufacture of homemade
mortar rounds (“We can make, every day, 25 shells,” he said), is part of
a grass-roots effort to create the fighters’ diverse and idiosyncratic
arsenal. That is an essential component of the rebels’ survival and
their recent successes against the professionally trained military with
which they are locked in a struggle for Syria’s future." So let me get this straight, the US, France, UK, France, Germany, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, and UAE among other "friends" of Syria--I mean, Israel--are all helping the Syrian rebels but that they still need to manufacture homemade mortar rounds? Who are you kidding with this? How dumb are you or your foreign editor to think that this can fly? Were the surface-to-air missiles also made in people's kitchens? I mean, a ship of the most advanced weapons was captured on its way to Syria in Lebanon, and this was months ago.

It is important for progressives in the West and in the Arab world to know that leftists can only identify with Hizbullah's resistance to Israeli aggression and occupation but not with anything else about the party. It is not a progressive or leftist party. It has never incorporated social justice in its plank. It abandons workers' and farmers' struggles at every corner, as they have been abandoning the workers at Spinneys in Beirut. Not new.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I received a copy from the New York Times of the BBC report on Nasrallah speech from 2005, which was cited in the correction today. The report said: "“would dry up the sources of finance, end moral, political and material
support, stifle voices, whether they are the voices of the resistance or
the voices which support the resistance, pressure states which protect
the resistance in one way and another, and pressure the Lebanese state,
Iran and Iraq, but especially the Lebanese state, in order to classify
it as a state which supports terrorism.” But I looked up the actual speech. Here is what he actually said: "Due to the shelving of the military option by the Israelis, they resorted to two option. The first was to target the leaders of the resistance, and the second was to put a siege on the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine, politically and diplomatically, through a comprehensive plan...the Zionist effort seeks to convince countries of the world and the international community that the resistance in Lebanon, which Hizbullah constitutes its most prominent headline, is a terrorist organization...If the Zionists succeed in this, it will mean an international and global war on the resistance under the headline of "war on international terrorism" through a political and financial and media war and to pressure the states that protect the resistance especially in Lebanon, Syria and Iran. The Zionists who failed in their military and security confrontation in Lebanon are trying through political action and international relations to end the role of the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine. They want from the Lebanese and Palestinians to end the role of the resistance..." As you can see, it is an entirely different meaning and words altogether.

PS Hamzah found an audio of the speech and he wrote me this: "Ok I found it ..it's
at at minute 15..Funnily, what
the US newspapers guys claims from sayyed [Hasan Nasrallah] is what he presents as Israel's
thoughts not what he thinks."

PPS And in this full text of the speech he makes it clear that he was not speaking about what could happen but about he Zionist plans which he ridiculed and denied any presence of an international arm of the party--meaning, the entire speech refutes the very premise of the first article in the Times. He was talking about what the Zionists want to do and said that they think that they can "dry up the sources of funding, and to end the political, moral, and material sources of support, muzzling voices whether they are voices of resistance or voices supportive of resistance, and to pressure the states..."

A new line of reporting in the Times: "Residents and activists said that the helicopter had been used in a
government assault on rebel fighters in Jobar and other eastern suburbs
of Damascus..." Residents and activists? Are residents non-activists and are activists non-residents? And how are residents OR activists able to verify where the helicopter was used or not used? I mean, how ridiculous is the press getting.

"The U.S. military said on Monday it was disciplining U.S. troops over two
incidents that provoked outrage in Afghanistan early this
year, one involving a video depicting Marines urinating on corpses and another
over burned copies of the Koran. The administrative punishments -- which could include things like reduce rank
or forfeiture of pay -- fell short of criminal prosecution, and it was unclear
whether they would satisfy Afghan demands for justice."

"Morocco’s minister of religious endowments and Islamic affairs has said that the
pledge of allegiance to the king is similar to the pledge of allegiance that
Muslims made to Prophet Muhammad under the shadow of a tree in al-Hudaybiyah.
The minister forgot, or overlooked, the fact that the Prophet Muhammad did not
put his personal business interests above those of the people, as the king does,
amassing a fortune while the people get poorer. Also, the people never touched
the Prophet’s hems like those pledging allegiance to the king, and the Prophet
never acted in an unfair or unjust way. Therefore, this analogy is unfair,
underestimates the minds of the people and is a blatant attempt to use religious
authority to justify political legitimacy. ""

"Ibn Rushd" sent me this: "Exactly as you wrote a few days ago, even when Palestinian kids get
lynched, the New York Times writes about the soul searching of Israeli school
students who "confront hate".

"Two masked men attacked and wounded Ismail Adara, a 67-year-old Palestinian shepherd on Monday, in the cave village of Bir al Eid in the South Hebron hills, as he was grazing his flock near the village. He was rushed to hospital in Hebron with wounds in the neck and fingers, and with possible head fractures."

"Human-rights activists are demanding the release of Nagla Wafa, an Egyptian wedding planner and designer sentenced to 500 lashes and five years in prison in Saudi Arabia following a business dispute with a princess. Wafa ran afoul of a royal in the Saudi kingdom over the finances of a joint business venture, according to her family. She was reportedly accused of cashing a check from the princess but not following through on their deal to start a restaurant. “As of May of 2012, Ms. Wafa has been subjected, on a weekly basis, to 50 floggings per week within the ‘Al-Malz’ Prison. She currently faces 200 more floggings ... despite her suffering from distortions to her spine,” the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights said in an online statement. Accusing Saudi Arabian authorities of unlawfully detaining the 39-year-old mother of teenage twins, the organization said the case was a “blatant violation” of human rights and filed a complaint with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs."

I received a document detailing US plans to secure chemical weapons in Syria. The plan goes as follows: Americans show up and yell: Get out of the way. US wants to secure chemical weapons in Syria. Simple but secure plan.

"Justice was swift and brutal when fighters of the Al Nusra Front militia caught
a man accused of raping and killing a young girl in front of her father. They
beheaded the man and left his body in the street. The presence of women
and children didn't deter them. Neither did the appeals of other rebels at the
checkpoint in the embattled neighborhood of Salahuddin. Members of the Free
Syrian Army, the main rebel force, said that the man was a member of a
pro-government militia and that they had no doubt he was guilty. They also had
no objection to killing him, but they did object to a public beheading."

I delivered a short audio speech to protesters in Awwamiyyah in Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago. Here is the gist of my words. (Note: I am not a politician, the description in the headline notwithstanding.)

Finally, the New York Times printed a correction. The day the story appeared, I told my readers that this quotation is fabricated by Zionists (and repeated by Zionists), and that it was never uttered by Nasrallah. I communicated with someone in the Times and I was told that they did extensive research and could not find any source for the quotation. Today, the Times printed this: "An article
on Aug. 16 about Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese Shiite political
organization that is considered a terrorist group by the United States
and Israel, quoted incorrectly from a statement by Hassan Nasrallah, the
group’s secretary general, about the adverse effect that a similar
blacklisting by European countries would have on Hezbollah. Mr.
Nasrallah said, according to a BBC Monitoring Service transcript, that
it “would dry up the sources of finance, end moral, political and
material support, stifle voices, whether they are the voices of the
resistance or the voices which support the resistance, pressure states
which protect the resistance in one way and another, and pressure the
Lebanese state, Iran and Iraq, but especially the Lebanese state, in
order to classify it as a state which supports terrorism.” Mr. Nasrallah
did not say a European blacklisting “would destroy Hezbollah. The
sources of our funding will dry up and the sources of moral political
and material support will be destroyed.” (That incorrect quotation,
which has been widely attributed to Mr. Nasrallah and has been
repeatedly cited in congressional testimony and elsewhere, is based on a
paraphrase of the actual quote." Let me add now this: the quotation that is included in the BBC report cited, is entirely distorted from the original speech and he never meant what is being said in this phrasing cited. I will find the original passage to show it to you.

PS I asked a source of the New York Times about the BBC report on the speech. I was provided a copy of the BBC Monitoring Service report of the speech. It does not--as I suspected--match the Arabic text from the speech from 19 February, 2005.

"He is the editor of the ‘Nawafidh’ cultural supplement of the Beirut daily al-Mustaqbal." Oh, really? Just that? editor of Nawafidh in Al-Mustaqbal. Let us amend: He is the editor of the cultural supplement of the Hariri daily, Al-Mustaqbal. The supplement steers away from culture and is filled with right-wing, sectarian pro-Saudi propaganda. It also carries pro-US propaganda from Bush years and beyond. It is the place where writers compete to show their sorrow and grief over the death of Rafiq Hariri. If only I have the time to react to everything I read.

More
students could name the three Kardashian sisters than name the
Vice-president of the US in my American Government class (125 students).

"Responding to the announcement that Brahimi was a contender for the envoy position, Asad AbuKhalil, a leftist commentator on the Arab world, argued that Brahimi was the choice of the US and its allies. The Algerian had played a minimal role in the Taif Accords, the Lebanese-American political scientist wrote in an editorial for the Lebanese website Al-Akhbar Englishpublished last Wednesday. "He was dispatched to Afghanistan to help in smoothing the American occupation before he was used in Iraq in the same capacity - to smooth over the American occupation there," AbuKhalil wrote."

My friend, the Arab businessman, sent me comments about the press conference by Sabih Al-Masri about the Arab Bank. He wrote (excerpts) about his defense of Hariri and his constant reference to the bank as a "Jordanian Bank":
"To prostrate to the daman shares and get the daman to vote their shares with him
and Harriri thievesThis should give them the largest controlling
interest. That is why he is saying Jordanian to give a sense of calm to little
Hasimite. This will become a Saudi controlled bank ( to counter Bank Al Iskan;
now controlled by Qatar: second largest Bank in the little Hashimite Shitdom)
and as mentioned earlier the Masri, Harriri (both are Saudi lackies; one for the
Sultan Family and the other for Fahad Family) and their cronies will steal the
assets of this bank and screw not only the Palestinians but also JORDANDIANS (
especially the little Hashimite ) Yeminies and many others.These are corrupt
selfish very selfish group of money worshipers that will and have sold their
mothers for a few additional dollars. This is another sad very sad day in the
struggle of the Arab Nation and especially the Palestinian cause. Kawar fam$ily is very close to queen utube she used to work as a secreatry for
one of them who introduced her to the little hashimite and in turn the kawar was
appointed as the little hashmite in USA. There after Kawar became one of the
leading IT security providers in Jordan. Amazing how these people steal and
continue to steal. Sabih is full of shit. The Harriri including the head Harriri Nazek ( who
divorced her husband that was employed by her croock husband) and her sons have
the bulk of the Harriri Money and Arab Bank Shares. So the ...Baha and
stupid Saad story is irrelevant. Why is this Masri lacky defending a rival
Saudi lacky ( orders from the illiterate Master in Reyadh) The Masri Kawar
and co are part of the Bank destruction that wait and see The Shuman (the
idiot) is a coward the shuman took their money and ran. They did not fight for
the good of all. A bunch of selfish spoiled privilege children that do not want
to dirty their hands and fight for what is right for the entire Arab Bank Base
that believed in the Bank and remained loyal to it."

"One need only glance at the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar to find the Arab revolutions damned tout court as examples of “Political Sunnism”." The characterization of a trend in the Arab uprisings does not imply castigation of the trends of the uprisings. (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

""But frankly, you know what it is - I've listened to you very
carefully - the contribution of the fundamentalist madness from the United
States into the Israelis is probably one of the greatest obstacles to peace in
the region."" (thanks Amir)

"Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 28, Haifa District Court in Israel will announce the verdict in the civil lawsuit brought against the State of Israel for the killing of Rachel Corrie in March 2003. For the best part of a decade, Corrie's family has been seeking justice and accountability for the crushing to death by a bulldozer of the American human rights activist. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2005, charges the State of Israel "with responsibility for Rachel's killing and failure to conduct a full and credible investigation in the case". I have been given access to professional translations of the legal summaries submitted to the court, which analyse the evidence, court testimonies and legal arguments. Whatever the judge's decision, this case has shed light on Israel's grave breaches of human rights and the impunity enjoyed by its military. In the summary submitted by the State of Israel, it is claimed that "the IDF is a cautious, proportional, considerate, humanitarian army that acts with caution, proportionality and reasonableness". Yet evidence in the case, corroborated by other incidents external to the killing of Rachel Corrie, suggest that the Israeli army has killed civilians - Palestinians and internationals - as a result of official policy." (thanks Ben)

"I know it is the Daily Star and it has not been taken seriously as a media outlet for a long time, but look at this piece and how incredibly sloppy it is, headlined “Hezbollah leadership divided over Syrian crisis”". (thanks Nicholas)

Basim sent me this with the title (above): "The rebels are a mixed bunch, a combination of army defectors, Islamists,
intellectuals, laborers and other ordinary people who took up arms against one
of the Middle East's most brutal police states."

"IMAGINE A business that rakes in billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, but provides its customers with a defective product that fails for more than half of them--though that track record hasn't stopped the business owners from enjoying ever-increasing profits. Sounds like the parasites of Wall Street or the insurance industry, doesn't it? But according to a U.S. Senate report, the same is true of a growing number of colleges and universities--the expanding sector of higher education that is run for profit. The Senate report is a shocking exposé of a new growth industry that turns out to be another scheme for the 1 percent to make money at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in society. But anyone who investigates the for-profit college scam will be struck by something else, too--the abuses of College Inc. are extreme examples of a trend toward privatization and business-like operations throughout all of higher education, which threaten to undermine the system as a whole." (thanks Khaled)

""They say Samuel Mullet Sr. allowed beatings of those who disobeyed him, had sex
with married women to "cleanse them," and then, last fall, instructed his
followers to cut the beards and hair of his critics, an act considered deeply
offensive in Amish culture."" (thanks Rana)

Basically, with the passing of Anthony Shadid, there is no new independent reporting by the New York Times on Syria. None whatsoever. What you read in the Times is a compilation of unsubstantiated claims by Syrian exile opposition--which has a proven record of exceeding in volume the amount of lies produced by the Syrian regime--plus skypes with contacts in Syria provided to the Times by Syrian exile opposition.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

"Bob speaks with Mazen Hayek, a spokesman from the Arabic-language news
channel Al Arabiya, who responds to Sultan Al-Qassemi's critique. Hayek
says the network has a history of covering conflicts without bias, and
is doing its best to cover Syria fairly under difficult reporting
circumstances." I mean, what do I expect from a Lebanese right-wing employer of House of Saud? really? If you ask Mazen Hayek about women's rights in Saudi Arabia, he would say: House of Saud is a feminist family. I mean, really. No self-respect with those folks.

""The Syrian conflict serves as a magnet for these groups," said Andrew Tabler,
senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who is in
Antakya, Turkey, near the Syrian border, meeting with opposition figures. "But,
and this is important, they're still an extremely small part of the groups that
are fighting the Syrian regime.""

"A shrine in the Libyan capital Tripoli venerating a Sufi Muslim saint has
been partly destroyed - the latest in a series of attacks blamed on
ultra-conservative Salafi Islamists. Tripoli residents said men with bulldozers attacked the shrine of al-Shaab
al-Dahmani, unimpeded by police. The attack came a day after hardliners were
accused of damaging the tomb of a Sufi scholar in the city of Zlitan. People in Tripoli say they saw bulldozers destroy part of the al-Shaab
al-Dahmani mosque and Sufi shrine. One, a student named Abdurrahman, told the
BBC: "There's a large group of Salafists - they are the one with the bulldozers,
and some military police are also present. "They seem to be overseeing the
process, rather than preventing it ... There are some bystanders who seem to
approve". He said the Salafists were also handing out pamphlets issued by a Saudi
Arabian mufti from the hardline Wahhabi school of Islam." (thanks Basim)

More on the adventures of a former Rolling Stone reporter who found himself (over his head) in Beirut: "after five days of extended gun battles between Lebanese Sunnis and
Alawites loyal to Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad." Look at this sentence. Notice that it only refer to `Alawites as "loyal to Syria's president, Bashshar Al-Asad. Let us assume that Damien Cave, who knows no Arabic, did conduct a survey among Lebanese `Alawites and found out that 100% of them expressed loyalty to Bashshar Al-Asad. But the question is this: why did he not throw a label or adjective on the Sunnis? Why did he not say: "Sunnis loyal to Saudi Arabia's king, Abdullah"? Why not? Certainly, the Saudi King gives more financial and military support to Sunnis in Lebanon than Bashshar gives to Lebanon's `Alawites.

If this was a Muslim call for Israel's destruction, it would have made it to the front pages of US newspapers: "An influential Israeli rabbi has called for prayers for Iran's destruction, a
week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to court his support for a
possible attack on a nuclear program Israel sees as an existential threat."

""Police 'stood by' as Salafi extremist group razed Tripoli mosque in most
blatant sectarian attack since Gaddafi's overthrow". And this "A man who
appeared to be overseeing the demolition told
Reuters the interior ministry
had authorised the operation after discovering people had been worshipping
the graves and practicing "black magic". "" (thanks Raed)

So the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law, Al-Arabiyyah, explained its daily story about the defection of Faruq Ash-Shar`, which was disproved today by the appearance of Shar` in Damascus. It said that it did not air a correction because it stands by its story: it said that Ash-Shar` has indeed defected but that he interrupted his defection in Amman to come to Damascus for his meeting with an Iranian official, and that he will return to Amman to resume his defection shortly.

It was brought to my attention that Syrian regime media (propaganda outlets really) have been posting my article from yesterday in Al-Akhbar on Khalid Mish`al but after deleting the reference to "the oppressive Syrian regime in the midst of murdering". I have indicated before that I don't want anyone to post any of my words if they are altered, doctored, or censored.

Let me know about this: when Bin Ladenite fanatics went on a rampage in Mali destroying Sufi sites and tombs, there was extensive Western media coverage. The NATO Salafite gangs in Libya have been doing the same this week, but I have not read coverage of that in the US press.

When Saudi Arabia refers to its unarmed opponents as terrorists, Western governments and media react with respect and belief. And when the Syrian regime does the same with respect to its armed opponents, Western governments and media mock the reference. Consistency.

I have maintained before that Hariri media, like the Saudi media, are the worst example of propaganda. Now Hariri website is one example. Look at this article: it attributes a fake story to "sides that follow [the news]." I mean, I have read before stories attributed to "informed sources" or to "reliable sources" but sides that follow?

Western media behind curve on big story of Farouq al-Sharaa defection. Are they right? http://bit.ly/PBKwPw". As is known, Saudi media and Hariri media have been reporting on the defection of Faruq Ash-Shar` for two weeks. This "news" has dominated the news of Al-Arabiyyah (the website of the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law). Just yesterday, Al-Arabiyyah "reported" that Ash-Shar` has been seen in Amman where he is residing after his defection. The picture above is from Damascus today, with Shar` on right. There is of course no corrections and no explanation. They lie, and when the lie is exposed, they fabricate another lie, and so on. This is the nature of the oil of gas and oil. Oh, I forgot to mention, that Michael Husyan Young is the well-known expert on offshoots.

I relish watching the Israeli official humiliation of Abu Mazen. I hope that they wipe the floor with him, back and forth. I hope that they pelt him with eggs and more. This puppet of Israeli occupation has over-extended his usefulness for the occupiers who installed him in his position. This servitor of occupation deserves the worst treatment from his masters, just as the Israeli military occupiers left their terrified torturers behind in South Lebanon after the humiliatingly Israeli withdrawal from most of South Lebanon.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Michael sent me this: "Look und listen into this video.
First, you have the fighter complaining about the lack of support. And than the
Jazera-Reporter says the opposite to please their masters in Qatar.
Unbelievable!!!"

""So long as Syrian jihadis are committed to
fighting Iran and its Arab proxies, we should quietly root for them -- while
keeping our distance from a conflict that is going to get very ugly before the
smoke clears. There will be plenty of time to tame the beast after Iran's
regional hegemonic ambitions have gone down in flames...."" (thanks Nu`man)

"Boudlal's
attorneys also said their Moroccan-born client was repeatedly harassed by her
co-workers from the beginning of her employment, receiving insults such as
"terrorist," "camel" and "Kunta Kinte," the name of a slave in Alex Haley's 1976
novel, "Roots."" (thanks Joseph)

Al gave a good summary of Tripoli's recent history:
"My wife is from Mina, Tripoli which was a communist stronghold. In the
early 80's, gun battles erupted between Islamic Tawheed in Bab tabaneh and the
Alewites of the Arab Democratic party. The Tawheed tried to expand their power
over Tripoli/Mina by attacking the Communists and seizing Mina and many parts of
Tripoli. The SSNP (who were mostly Sunnis) and the Communists still held parts
of Tripoli. In the mid 80's, with the help of heavy Syrian artillery, The
Communists and the SSNP launched an attack and defeated the Tawheed in
Tripoli/Mina and seized the areas the Tawheed controlled (without the Alewites
of Jabal Muhsin). The Only Sunnis in the 80's who were against the Syrians were
the Tawheed. The most popular Sunni leader in Tripoli was Rashid Karami who was
pro-Syrian. The Sunnis in Tripoli remained pro-Syrian until as you mentioned it
in 2005."

Jordanian Salafite leader brags about his group participation in killing in Syria. Do you notice that if one--ONLY ONE--Hizbullah fighters was found in Syria it would generate more press than the non-existent coverage of thousands of foreign Jihadis in Syria. I guess there are foreigners and there are foreigners. This is like when US military occupiers would brazenly talk about "foreign fighters" in Iraq, assuming that they themselves are natives. (thanks Mick)

"A pro-Israel
organization canceled a protest rally at the Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica
after the hotel's co-owner condemned anti-Semitism and agreed to donate to
Jewish and Israeli causes.
In reaching the agreement with the western region of the Zionist Organization
of America, hotel executive Tehmina Adaya sought to defuse reaction to a jury's
recent decision that she had discriminated against a Jewish group that held a
charity event at the hotel." Now how did the owner discriminate against Jews? Here is the story: "On Aug. 15, a jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica found
that Adaya and the hotel had violated the civil rights of 18 Jewish and
non-Jewish plaintiffs when staff, acting on Adaya's instructions, ordered them
to remove their literature and banners, get out of the hotel pool and stop
handing out T-shirts. The plaintiffs were attending a pool party for young
leaders of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces."

This report seems quite different from other reports in the Western press. Does it mean that it is more accurate?
"But despite Barakat’s claims, most of Aleppo remains in government hands, the rebels have lost their major position in the Salahadin neighborhood, and fighting in the city has slowed in the face of fierce government attacks from the air that the rebels seem unlikely to withstand indefinitely, since they do not have anti-aircraft weapons." (thanks Talal)

"“The regime made it so we talk about Alawi/Sunni. They made it sectarian.”" Well, if the writer (who I knew when he worked for Democracy Now) actually read the regime and opposition media, he would have discovered that there are no sectarian references in regime propaganda (without denying the sectarian bases of the ruling elite), while the opposition media (in all of its forms including FB and Twitter) are full of vulgar and crude sectarian references. Also, let me get this strait: so the Jihadi Salafites and Ikhwan in Syria would have been secular but that the regime made them sectarian? Can you run that by me again, Sharif? This is like silly comment by Golda Meir in which she blamed Arabs for making her kill Arab babies.

This from an article by the Rolling Stone reporter in Beirut (covering Syria):
"as a Sunni leader was killed by a sniper from a neighborhood dominated
by Alawites, members of the sect to which President Bashar al-Assad of
Syria belongs." What is the relevance of linking the Lebanese `Alawites to Bashshar Al-Asad in the sentence? Why not say the same about the "Sunni leader" (he was in fact a Bin Ladenite Salafite, but who cares anymore when Salafites are now referred to as "pro-Western in the Western media)? Why not identify the Sunni thus: member of a sect to which Usamah Bin Laden belonged? Why not identify Barry Obama as: member of a sect to which Ted Bundy belongs.

Comic by Terry Furry, reproduced from "Heard the One About the Funny Leftist?" by Cris Thompson, East Bay Express

As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.

The comments that appear in the comments' section are unedited and uncensored. The thoughtful and thoughtless, sane and insane, loving and hateful, wise and unwise ideas that they contain do not represent the Angry Arab. They only represent those who write them, whoever they are.